That quote is from the Prime Minister himself
recently, by the way. He is
slightly more humble and respectful now.

The UKIP has responded well to the belittling attacks. After being called “clowns”
by Tory Ken Clarke, Nigel Farage retorted, “Send in the clowns!”

As for Mr. Farage, a party leader who regularly
goes to the pub for a pint is my kind of guy. And it’s clear he was won many over in part by not taking himself too seriously. (I do disagree with him on returning
smoking to pubs, however.)

I should note that something I posted earlier
may be in error. The Daily Mail had
the UKIP starting out the night with no seats, and that’s what I posted. But the BBC had the UKIP at 7 seats. I suspect that is correct. Nevertheless 7 to 144 at last count is
not bad.

So the UKIP has not only become the UK’s 3rd
party of choice, but is on the heels of the Tories.

By the way, I’ve read somewhere recently (I’m
sorry I forgot where.) that the UKIP is taking votes from Labour as well as
from the Tories. I was skeptical
when I read that, but the results are bearing that analysis out. In the current political atmosphere,
there is no way the Tories would have almost half the vote without the
UKIP. It is now clear the UKIP
vote is not all ex-Tory.